Plastering: An (almost) lost art

by The Old House Web
del.icio.us Digg Reddit StumbleUpon
Parts of this story: Intro | Preparing the house | The plastering begins | The final white coat

The plastering begins

Wally Lerner, say the Dodds, is "the very best craftsman one can imagine." At one point, the meticulous master plasterer was about to do the final white coat of plaster, but wasn't satisfied with the base coat that his crew had prepared for him. So he began over, doing the entire job himself.


A bit like making a cake: Here Wally Lerner works the white coat. But before the white coat is prepared, many other steps must be completed. Several coats of "brown coat" -- a mixture of gypsum and perlite, must be applied. The brown coat is applied over rock lath, which looks like sheetrock, but is designed to bond with plaster.


All three stages of plastering are visible here on the third floor: the rock lath on the right, the two coats of brown coat, and finally the white coat.


Wally contemplates the next load of brown coat.


Applying the brown coat.


The second floor is prepped for the brown coat. Notice the pink bonding glue applied to the brick to the right. That's the first coating that connects with the brown coat.

Parts of this story: Intro | Preparing the house | The plastering begins | The final white coat